Kwik Sew 3504 - PANTS!

This is not my first time working with Kwik Sew 3504 - I've made 2 muslins and 2 pair of shorts from it, but have yet to really be satisfied with the results. These are described as: "Men's jeans have fly zipper, waistband with belt carriers, back yoke, back patch pockets, front pockets, a coin pocket, and topstitching detail. View A legs are straight cut and View B are boot cut."

Kwik Sew 3504
I have been sewing the straight leg version. My first attempt at pants was this Hot Patterns Disaster.  Let us not speak of it again.  I made a muslin of Kwik Sew 3504, size M, and it seemed to fit well. I got sidetracked, put them away for a while, and when Tim tried them on again, they seemed snug in the butt. So I thought I'd make a L back on a M front, and grade them at the waistband.  So the first attempt was this past summer, in a corduroy I bought from Fabric Outlet SF.  The results:


 OVERSIZED!!  They were really huge in the waist, and luckily he wears a belt all the time anyway.  And his untucked shirt is camouflage, but they're big.  Kind of baggy frat boy look. I did use Batman fabric to line the pockets:
POW!
So for version 2.0, I made a straight M, thinking that the muslin has zero give, and my actual fabric would have a bit of mechanical stretch. That, and my second fabric was a great navy stretch twill, also from Fabric Outlet (we'd just hit up their spring 40% off sale!).
The results:



BETTER!
These fit much better at the waist. I put on welt pockets using some plaid scraps.


This is a great twill and they look really nice on. They did still have a gape at the back - Tim has a booty, like myself, and men's pants are mainly drafted for skinny legs and DGS (diminished gluteal syndrome!).


Then Tim had his favorite pair of jeans that totally disintegrated, so I cut them up to compare pattern pieces. Turns out, the yoke piece on his jeans was about 3/4" shorter than on the Kwik Sew pattern. Made sense, since when he wore those navy shorts, it kind of looked like the yoke was perched on  his butt.  So the next time I made the pants, I shortened the yoke 3/4" and raised the top of the back of the pants to compensate.  The fabric was a water-resistant cotton-nylon blend (also from Fabric Outlet 40% off!) These were going to be 'field pants', since he's a geologist and the $90 pair from North Face came apart after 6 months of easy wearing.  So this is my $15 version.  And check it out:

Again, this was a straight M, but I did check the fit as I went and sewed it with 3/8" seam allowances, because this fabric has zero give.

The waist fits, no belt needed
Rear views...

And amazingly, no gape at the back waist! Don't know if this is the result of my yoke tweak, but I'm happy about it.


And so is he:

Overall, I'm very happy with the final results, and plan to make these again in denim.  I recommend this pattern; as with most pants, make a muslin, fit as you go, be mindful of your fabric choices. But the pattern is great and the instructions are wonderful. Best instructions for installing a front fly that you will ever read!  Now it's time to tackle pants for myself....

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